Accelerated Ultrasonic Fatigue Testing Applications and Research Trends

Very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) behavior of aerospace components has emerged much attention due to their long service life. In this study, a piezoelectric ultrasonic fatigue testing (UFT) system has been developed by Mbrosiatec Co., Ltd. to study the high cycle fatigue (HCF) strength of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. Hourglass-shaped specimens have been investigated in the range from 10(6) to 10(9) cycles at room temperature under completely reversed R = -1 loading conditions,. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed that failures occurred in the entire range up to the gigacycle regime, and the fractures have beenfound to be initiated from the surface, unlike in steels. However, it was found from the SEM microgprahs that microcracks transformed into intergranular fractures. Thus, it can be concluded from according to the results that this test method can be applicable to commercialized automotive and railroad parts that require high cycle fatigue strength.